Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The purpose of the public Land Register for England and Wales is to facilitate land transactions. On behalf of the Crown, Land Registry guarantees title to registered estatesand interests in land. The register is dynamic andis continuously updated as land ownership is transferred.
	The Domesday Book was a one-off valuation and survey covering England only south of the Tees and a few Welsh border settlements. As such it represents a snapshot only and the information gathered was never officially updated centrally.
	In terms of accuracy, transparency and comprehensiveness, it is not possible to compare standards between the Land Register and Domesday Book because of the difference in purpose and coverage.

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by Lord Triesman on 7 November (WA 130), whether they will now give the dates and cost of the visit bya member of staff from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a member of staff from the Home Office to Nepal, with a separate estimate of the overheads incurred in planning the journey in both departments; and what public interest is served by this exercise.

Lord Rooker: There are currently no plans to move Civil Service jobs out of County Fermanagh over the next five years although the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLNI) is currently reviewing its local office network. This review, which is for business and efficiency reasons, might impact on the five jobs in the Enniskillen office. There will be appropriate consultation with staff representatives. This reply is without prejudice to any decisions flowing from the establishment of the Water Service as a government-owned company with effect from 1 April 2007 andthe implementation of the recommendations of the Review of Public Administration, which is underway.

Lord Truscott: The following information has been taken from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2006.
	
		
			  GWh 
			  2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 
			 Metering differences 1 1,798 1,821 -874 137 2,880 
			 Leakage assessment 2 4.436 5,283 4,452 5,414 5,260 
			 Own use gas 3 436 427 439 437 425 
			 Theft 4 2.190 2,134 2,197 2,186 2,124 
			 Total Losses 8,862 9,665 6,214 8,174 10,689 
			 1 Measurement of gas flows, in volume and energy terms, occurs at several points along the supply chain. As such, differences are seen between the actual recorded flow through any one point and estimates calculated for the flow of gas at that point. 
			 2 This is a National Grid assessment of leakage through the local distribution system based on the National Leakage Reduction Monitoring Model. 
			 3 Equivalent to about 0.06 per cent of the local distribution zones (LDZ) throughput. This is an assessment of the energy used to counter the effects of gas cooling on pressure reduction. 
			 4 Calculated by National Grid as 0.3 per cent of LDZ throughput, this is theft before the gas reaches customer meters. 
		
	
	National Grid and the Independent Gas Network operators have plans to replace iron gas mains with polyurethane pipes, which will progressively reduce the loss from leakage and benefit the environment.

Lord Rooker: Nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture between 1990 and 2004 are shown in the table below. These data are presented in million tonnes of carbon equivalent.
	
		
			 Gas 1990 1995 2000 2004 
			 Nitrous oxide 8.9 8.5 8.0 7.4 
			 Total greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture 17.3 16.5 15.5 14.5 
			 2004 is the latest year for which figures are available. 
		
	
	The use of inorganic nitrogen as a fertiliser is a major source of nitrous oxide emissions, which can also arise from manures during storage. A number of effective practical actions and technologies can be taken up by farmers to reduce the level of emissions. For example, these can help to: optimise the efficient use of fertilisers, reduce inorganic nitrogen use, and maximise the benefit of organic nitrogen. More efficient usage could also help to reduce farmers' costs.
	The UK Climate Change Programme 2006 provides further information about greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector and our policies for tackling them. This is available at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/ukccp/index.htm.

Lord Truscott: The Government are fully committed to tackling all offences committed by individuals and all forms of business organisation.
	The UK maintains an effective framework for business which balances the need to encourage enterprise and deter corruption, fraud and other types of misconduct. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 gives UK courts jurisdiction over corruption offences committed wholly overseas by UK nationals and by bodies incorporated under UK law. The Government recently provided resources for a new unit in the City of London Police Service to investigate allegations of foreign bribery. This will complement the work of the Serious Fraud Office, deter corruption and help bring prosecutions against corrupt individuals and companies.
	In addition, the Government will shortly be introducing a range of new measures, among which are:
	the third EU money laundering directive; implementation in the UK will require that all sectors under money laundering regulations must identify the beneficial owners of their customer if the customer is a legal entity or legal person. It will also require that all trust and company service providers are fit and proper persons and that these businesses are not run for criminal purposes. Further, it explicitly prevents banks and financial institutions doing transactions with banks with no physical presence and which are unaffiliated with a regulated financial group;the creation by DfID of a new £100 million Governance and Transparency Fund, designed to help citizens hold their governments to account;the provision of specialist resources to developing countries to investigate and prosecute corruption cases; andthe provision of technical assistance to establish effective anti-corruption practices under the UN Convention against Corruption.
	Company law and its related enforcementregime tackles financial crime in a number ofways, particularly through requirements to publish accounts and powers to wind up companies and disqualify directors. The new Companies Act 2006 imposes important obligations on UK companies and their directors to behave responsibly. All directors are under a duty to act with appropriate care, skill and diligence. This applies to directors of a UK parent company who act as shareholder of an overseas subsidiary. In addition, the Act requires that atleast one director of a company must be a natural person.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The information available for England and Wales is presented in the table.
	It is not possible to break down the figures for offences taken into consideration and warnings for cannabis possession by the age of the offender. Prosecution and court appearance figures are not components of the offences brought to justice measure.
	Information for Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office.
	
		
			 Number of offences brought to justice in England and Wales, 2001-05 by type of disposal and age group 1 (thousand of offences) 
			 Aged 10 to 17 
			  Penalty Notices for Disorder Reprimand Warning Convicted 
			 2001 - 72.5 36.8 113.8 
			 2002 - 61.5 32.6 110.9 
			 2003 - 63.9 35.1 108.3 
			 2004 - 74.3 41.0 114.8 
			 2005 1.3 88.0 41.7 118.3 
		
	
	
		
			 Aged 18 and over 
			  Penalty Notices for Disorder Cautions Convicted 
			 2001 - 122.0 565.2 
			 2002 1.0 128.8 596.9 
			 2003 3.4 139.2 614.7 
			 2004 30.3 146.3 592.1 
			 2005 97.6 182.3 579.4 
		
	
	
		
			 All ages 2 
			  Offences taken into consideration 3 Penalty notices for disorder Formal warnings for cannabis possession 3 Cautions, reprimands and final warnings Convicted Total offences brought to justice 
			 2001 88.0  231.5 681.9 1,001.3  
			 2002 99.3 1.0 223.2 707.7 1,031.2  
			 2003 94.6 3.4  238.2 723.4 1,059.7 
			 2004 104.5 30.3 27.5 264.2 707.2 1,133.7 
			 2005 114.1 98.8 57.7 312.1 697.6 1,280.5 
			 1 Figures presented are counts of offences rather than defendants. 
			 2 The "all ages" figures for cautions and convictions include estimates for missing data not included in the figures broken down by age. 
			 3 Figures for offences taken into consideration and formal warnings for cannabis possession cannot be broken down by age. 
			 Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces and courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: If an offence of rape is "no crimed" then that is reported monthly on the recorded crime return made to the Home Office. However, offences which have been "no crimed" do not feature in the recorded crime statistics published by the Home Office.
	Once any offence has been recorded, it should be classified as a "no crime" only if one of the following criteria is satisfied: the crime was committed outside the jurisdiction of the police force in which it was recorded; where following the report of an incident which has subsequently been recorded as a crime, additional verifiable information is available which determines that no notifiable crime has been committed; if the crime, as alleged, constitutes part of a crime already recorded; if the reported incident was recorded as a crime in error.
	Further explanation of the "no crime" principle is contained in Section C of the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime. A copy of the rules is available at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/countgeneral06.pdf.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: I understand that the Criminal Cases Review Commission is unaware that it has dealt with any cases where DNA samples have been obtained from the alleged rape victim as partof the commission's investigation. A sample may, however, have been taken by the original investigators for elimination purposes.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What was the cost of the police operationin connection with the "Sack Parliament" demonstration on 9 October.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Government review of the experiences of the new UK voting systems introduced for the devolved administrations, the European Parliament and London Assembly elections, whichis being conducted by officials within the DCA, is underway. Any decisions on any next steps, if necessary, will be taken in due course.

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What plans they have to increase trainingfor those in Northern Ireland who organise community festivals.

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 16 October (WA 174), what proportion of the £20,000 to £25,000 spent by the Medical Research Council on reviews of research into Gulf War illnesses was spent on, or in connection with, the one-day meeting held in London on 27 January 2003; and
	Further to the Written Answer by Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 16 October (WA 174), which individuals represented the Royal British Legion and the Gulf War Veterans and Families Association at the meeting on 27 January 2003 arranged by the Medical Research Council;and whether the organisers considered inviting Professor Malcolm Hooper and Dr Norman Jones to assist with the review of relevant research into Gulf War illnesses.

Lord Truscott: The information requested falls within the responsibilities of the Medical Research Council. Professor Blakemore, the chief executive of the MRC, has written to me regarding this matter. An extract from his letter is given below.
	"In 2003, the MRC, through our Military Health Research Advisory Group (MHRAG), conducted a comprehensive review of relevant research into Gulf Veterans' illness. As Lord Sainsbury outlined in a written answer to the Countess of Mar on 30 October 2006, the review involved a one-day closed scientific meeting between the MHRAG and a number of scientists from the UK and overseas. This was followed on the next day by a separate private meeting of the MHRAG to appraise the MRC of scientific progress, of the potential for gaining further knowledge and of research needs, and of what the likely medical issues might be. As reported by Lord Sainsbury, in a written answer to a question from Lord Morris of Manchester, we estimated the cost of the review to be between £20,000 and £25,000. This estimate related to the closed scientific meeting, the MHRAG meeting the following day, and the publication of the report.
	We of course publish the memberships of our Council and standing advisory Boards/Committees; and the membership of the MHRAG is recorded in the published review. However, it is not the MRC's practice to release into the public domain the names of individuals who either attended, or who may, or may not, have been considered as participants, in closed ad-hoc scientific meetings. If we felt there was a particular reason to make names public, we would make that clear in the letters of invitation. In the case of this scientific meeting, we did not do that. For what I hope are obvious reasons, we would never make public the names of individuals whom we had considered inviting to join a particular committee or meeting, but whom we subsequently decided not to invite. I am therefore not in a position to respond to the Countess of Mar's second question".

Lord Truscott: The information requested falls within the responsibilities of the Medical Research Council. Professor Blakemore, the chief executive of MRC, has written to me regarding this matter. An extract from the letter is enclosed.
	"As you are aware, the MRC, through our Military Health Research Advisory Group (MHRAG), last conducted a comprehensive review of relevant Gulf research in 2003. The MRC has not changed its view from that presented in the published report the 'MRC review of research into UK Gulf veterans' illnesses', and never stated that 'further research into Gulf War Illness may not be worthwhile'.
	I believe that this question may have resulted from an error in the minutes of a meeting of the Royal British Legion's (RBL) Gulf War Group on 5 September 2006. At the meeting, I understand that Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials reminded the Group of the MHRAG's 2003 findings that;
	'Further studies to characterise symptoms and illnesses of UK GVs based on self-reported exposures are not necessary and epidemiological studies of existing data are unlikely to lead to greater understanding'; and that
	'Further research aimed at improving the long-term health of GVs with persistent symptoms should take priority'.
	The discussion of this issue was mis-recorded in theRBL minutes as ' ... further research into the causes of Gulf War illnesses was probably not worthwhile'. I understand that the MoD has informed the RBL of the error."

Lord Warner: The department's code of practicefor the international recruitment of healthcare professionals, which covers recruitment from inside and outside the European Economic Area, emphasises that,
	"all international healthcare professionals will have the appropriate level of English language to enable them to undertake their role effectively."
	In addition, National Health Service employers' guidance makes clear that,
	"it is important to remember that all international healthcare professionals need to demonstrate their communication skills ... the employer should satisfy themselves of a candidate's ability to communicate to the required standard for the post".
	All applicants for foundation programmes or specialty registrar training opportunities will be required to demonstrate competence in the English language.

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have made representationsto the Government of Israel about the case ofMr Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan, a field worker for the Al-Haq organisation, arrested on23 May 2005 and since detained without charge, in Ansar III detention centre; and, if not, whether they will do so.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: We have not madeany representations to the Government of Israel concerning Mr Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan. However, we continue to monitor the situation with regard to all Palestinian prisoners held in administrative detention. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Israeli authorities.
	The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) currently has access to Israeli prisons and detention centres in Israel and the West Bank. The ICRC monitors conditions in Israeli prisons on a regular basis. An official from our embassy inTel Aviv raised our concerns about administrative detention with the Israeli prison service on15 November.

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answers by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 24 October (WA 231) and2 November (WA 66), whether they will now reconsider their Answer to the original Question asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon (HL7569) concerning attendance of Ministers at the Bilderberg Conference in Ottawa between 8 and11 June.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: Details of whetherany Cabinet Ministers attended the conference in an official capacity will not be known until the annual list of Cabinet Ministers' overseas travel for 2006-07 is published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Governmentwere saddened to hear of the recent deaths ofAnna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko.Our thoughts are with their families, friendsand colleagues at this time. The RussianProcuracy General has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ms Politkovskaya's murder and the Metropolitan Police arecurrently investigating the unexplained death ofMr Litvinenko. We await the outcomes of these investigations.

Lord Rooker: Paragraph 7 of the St Andrews agreement made clear that it was the view ofthe British and Irish Governments that the implementation of that agreement should be sufficient to build the community confidence necessary for the Assembly to request the devolution of policing and criminal justice by May 2008.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: We have no proposals to cease using closed evidence in tribunals against suspected terrorists. It is essential that we are able to use sensitive material—primarily intelligence—to inform decisions to take action against individuals and organisations involved in terrorism, in particular for some decisions involving control orders, deportation, exclusion, proscription of a terrorist organisationand deprivation of British citizenship. The special advocate procedure represents a fair and effective way for an individual to challenge such decisions.